Aphera Music

Mixtape or reality?

K+ by Kilo Kish

Romare, the mixologist featured on the last dance playlist is really doing it for me these days. This remix of the Alt-J track is borderline lewd with its appropriation of textures from every corner of the danceosphere.

Alt-J – Breezeblocks (Romare R∆mix) by Romare

Next check Atoms for Peace’s new hypnolectro track, “Judge Jury and Executioner”. The acoustic guitar sounds so sweet. Really can’t wait for this new album.

A slap on the face is a good way to start. Or you can slip into something unexpected and uncomfortable. Skip the first step? Not advisable, but it’s still a start.

Happy New Year! From Miles, Richard and myself.

Now that the world’s ended, let’s get our groove on. Needles in yr eyes and shivers down yr spine don’t let that stop you from enjoying the spectacle of Rome burning. Rid yourself of any feelings you may have as a result of the impending DOOM and press play.

Artist – Song – Label
This is how the world will end…

The Quakers – RIP – Stones Throw
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Romare - Freedom (Aspirations of a Prisoner) – Black Acre

Squarepusher/AFX – Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid – Warp
Collaboration between Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. Named for a hat store.

Brigitte Fontaine & Khan - Fine Mouche (Dop Remix) – I’m Single
Rosbif?

DOOM - DOOMSAYER RMX by YOUNG GURU

Major Lazer - Get Free (feat. Amber of Dirty Projectors) – Mad Decent

Atoms for Peace – What the Eyeballs Did – XL
Thom Yorke’s new band’s secret song. Los Angeles in flames. Flee on bass wearing only a sock.

Tobacco – Hairy Candy – Anticon

Cristian Vogel – Neon Underground – NovaMute

Todd Terje – Inspector Norse – Smalltown Supersound
Rumor has it the band played this as the Titanic sank.

Sometimes you dance quick, sometimes you dance slow. Sometimes you’re perfectly still but I know you’re still dancing. Tune in to this week’s Dance Playlist because regardless of whether this music moves you you’ll still be dancing!

So did something go wrong? Did I exhaust my list of good dance songs in last week’s debut playlist? Yup. But no problem, we’re just going to have to get creative with how we shake our limbs this week.

Click the image below to play “Dance Playlist Number 002″.

Aritst – Song – Label

Yurij – Circle Time
This is me! Très new, très dance.

Animal Collective – Moneky Riches – Domino
Jaunty rhythms and bumpy sounds. Crunchy.

Little Dragon – Nightlight – Peacefrog
LD’s composition cheekily dances with classic dance pop vocabulary pushing it this way and that.

Nine Inch Nails – Dead Souls
Joy Division cover.

Björk – Triumph of a Heart – One Little Indian
From her purely vocal album, Medúlla.

Pixies – Broken Face – 4AD
Ha.

My Bloody Valentine – Soon – Creation
Sway, swoon, stare at feet.

Burial – Kindred – Hyperdub
Wander through Burial’s dense landscape.

Beastie Boys – Super Disco Breakin’ – Capitol
With these funky beats I be goin’ head huntin’
Shouts to my peeps let me know if you feel something…

The Unicorns – I Was Born (A Unicorn) – Alien8
You’ll know just how to shake your extra face bone to this one.

Julio Bashmore – Ensnare, Well Wishers – Futureboogie
Cathartic ending to this eclectic mix. Grounded in grooves.

Thanks for checking out the next best thing since music itself.

Earlier this fall I wanted to apply to the university’s radio station as a dance DJ. Unfortunately they were out of spots. Why I didn’t think of this sooner is beyond me but I put a good deal of thought into my application playlist so I thought I’d post it here. The station I applied to, WHPK, wanted a whopping two hour playlist so get ready for a load of music and get comfortable.
If you inspect the playlist you’ll find I have a pretty lax definition of dance music but if you’ve ever seen me dance you’ll know why.

Click the image below to open the player to play “Dance Playlist Number 001″.

Aritst – Song – Label

SBTRKT – Pharoahs – Young Turks

SBTRKT bookends this playlist. This opener is one of my fave dance tunes everrrrr.

Diplo – Set It Off (feat Lazerdisk Party Sex) – Mad Decent

What’s a party without Lazerdisk Party Sex? I don’t know…

DMX Krew – You Can’t Hide Your Love (Hidden Love/Aphex Twin Mix) – Warp

Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Joy Orbison Remix) – Interscope

Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx – I’m New Here – XL

Uh oh Jamie! I think you dropped something. Just wait for it.

Flying Lotus – GNG BNG – Warp

Flying Lotus – Parisian Goldfish – Warp

FlyLo did all the work here for me. Great sequence.

Grimes – Oblivion – 4AD

Atoms For Peace – Default – XL

Thom Yorke’s new band shows tons of promise. Can’t wait for the upcoming full release.

Simian – LA Breeze – Astralwerks

Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules’ Theme – DFA

Disco isn’t dead.

Klaxons – As Above, So Below (Justice Remix) – Because Music

Classic Justice.

Mount Kimbie – Field – Hotflush

TOKiMONSTA – Bright Shadows – Braindfeeder

Major Lazer – Original Don – Mad Decent

Portico Quartet – City of Glass – Real World

Underworld – Born Slippy .NUXX (Darren Price Mix) – Wax Trax!

Fox n’ Wolf – Youth Alcoholic – Kitsune

I wish I knew what happened to these guys. They’re the trashiest as far as Eurotrash goes.

Jacques Greene – Another Girl – LuckyMe

The Rapture – House of Jealous Lovers – DFA

This is a great terrible song!

Hercules and Love Affair – Athene – DFA

Beck – Timebomb – Interscope

Blur – Girls & Boys – EMI

Aphex Twin – Heliosphan – Apollo

Get ready for the cool down.

Simian – Never Be Alone (Justice Remix) – Ed Banger

This track propelled Justice to riches and it propels my legs.

Flying Lotus – Getting There (feat Niki Randa) – Warp

Gonna have to dance like this to this one.

Ultraista – Bad Insect – Temporary Residence Limited

Gorillaz – El Manana (Metronomy Remix) – Parlophone

SBTRKT – Hold On (Sisi Bak Bak Remix) – Young Turks

What you say you’re not coming back? Oh no! Please do.

I’ve already started on next week’s playlist. I’m that excited.

It’s hardly enough to say they’re catchy. Here is Ultraista, a newly formed dance band whose three new songs have me itching for more. The band was formed last year by acclaimed Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, studio drummer Joey Waronker, and relatively unknown but wonderful singer Laura Bettison. Check out their first single, “Bad Insect”.

The band is named after early 20th century Spanish literary movement, ultraísmo, but their sound feels free — I don’t think too many people are making dance music like this. The emotions are always understated as Bettison’s clean and serene vocals don’t let on to too much. Meanwhile the percussion feels constant yet unpatterned; a nice blend of acoustic beats and programmed/synthesized beats atop some mad floaty synth harmonies gives the track a neupsychadelic aura.

The band said that in writing the songs they replaced choruses with more mantra like lyrics that allow for a less rigid form. All in all it’s brilliant dance music.

The album comes out (US)  tomorrow, Oct. 2, on Temporary Residence.

In line with my recent attempt to write more feature-like posts, I’m currently in the midst of writing about the relationship between music makers and their instruments. However, embarking on this endeavor means there will be more time between posts as I sit and think about stuff and then write some; it’s a slow process. So, in the interim I’m bringin’ you some music that’s been blasting over here. Check it out!

Doldrums – “Copper Girl”

I don’t know much about these guys but this song is so rich. It’s like Deerhunter meets Portishead.

Samaris – “Goda Tungl”

Click here for an NPR write up about about this Icelandic band that is best described a mix of Bjork and James Blake.

Grizzly Bear – “Yet Again”

Oh these guys. Please listen to their new album if you haven’t. It’s class.

Diplo ft. Jahan Lennon – “About that Life”

I love Diplo and I guess this is a cut from his forthcoming solo album which I’m very excited for after hearing the excellent EP he released earlier this year.

Flying Lotus – “Pretty Boy Strut”

His album drops in Oct. but there’s a leak going around right now somewhere. The video for this selection fits almost too well…

Animal Collective – Live on KEXP from Cutting Room Studios NYC by KEXP

Animal Collective’s album dropped a week or two back and if you’re into ADD, get it. It’s craziness from start to finish but when you compare the studio versions against this live performance, you’ll realize there’s really a beauty underneath each song.

Animal Collective’s newest album, Centipede Hz, comes out today and is streaming here. So open up the page, hit “Play All”, sit back, lie down, tune in, tune out — whatever. I don’t think Animal Collective wants you to experience the album through  shitty laptop speakers but sometimes it can’t be helped. I’d hate to watch a Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” movie on an iPhone, and in fact anything less than a huge brilliant screen would be doing it injustice, but you gotta do the best with what you got. As I write this, Centipede Hz is playing out an incredible pair of speakers, extra loud; it sounds really good like this. I’m not really paying attention to the videos that they have going along to the music but it’s all about the music anyway.

Nice speakers and a properly tuned system is really the ultimate listening experience. Seeing as almost all commercially made albums are mixed and mastered on these types of setups, it would make sense to try to emulate that setup as much as possible, right? But there’s a lot of electro music today I’d call headphone music. The music of the Brainfeeder lineup and of the post dubstep guys like Mount Kimbie and James Blake is what I’d call ear-candy and the nuanced listening that headphones provide allows for a very pleasurable experience.

Perhaps with the huge increase of DIY musicians, many of whom mix almost exclusively on headphones, and with so many of us listeners now experiencing music largely through headphones, maybe that’s the what’s right? Nah. But I did think it was funny when I read Flying Lotus’ tweet about headphones and listening experience: “even though i don’t like beats by dre headphones I’m gonna listen to my album in them, since lots of kids are gonna hear it that way”. It’s cool to think that guys like FlyLo are being conscious of the way that we are listening to music.

Pearl Jam apparently has an album called Binaural. Having read that the album was largely recorded binaurally, I’ll go so far as to assume that the title is somewhat of an instruction on how the music should be consumed. Binaural recording is a technique that provides the listener with directional and spatial cues provided the listener is listening through headphones; it creates the illusion of being in the same room as the musicians. Here’s a great example.

So once you figure out if you like headphones or speakers better, then you figure out your format. Vinyl’s hit a huge resurgence lately but I believe it’s largely either a romanticization of an obsolete format or a product of vinyl’s status as a collector item. Vinyl poses limitations on song length, sequencing, and even mixing to an extent, as songs with a lot of bass may wear out easily or skip. Aside from that it doesn’t pose a noticeable advantage to sound quality; this is a point of contention to many diehard vinyl fans but from a technological standpoint, the sampling rate and bit depth of CD-quality music, and even the mechanical properties of a speaker are sufficient such that there should be no difference between the sound from a CD and the sound from a vinyl once it hits your eardrums. So let’s leave it up to the bands to decide what medium they would prefer.

Radiohead has stated many times that they hate the CD format so when I started listening to the vinyl of their latest album, the King of Limbs, I was surprised to notice that I had to flip the record in between one of the album’s best segues between songs. So what’s the point? The vinyl disrupts the flow of the album, CD’s suck, so perhaps the lossless wav download that came with the purchase of the album was the intended medium? Somehow I doubt that but it’s fine with me either way; I’m gonna listen however I want to listen so who needs instructions.

Lastly, welcome back to Aphera Music. Music is always on my mind and I’d like to start sharing with you guys (whoever you are) again.

Respectfully,

George

I can’t help but think that this video was inspired by the hyped and explicit R-rated novel, 50 Shades of Grey. At least that’s what came to my mind when watching Lana drowning in that guys arms…

In any case, this video is a surreal and addicting series of Lana themed images. As much as we want to, we can’t stop posting about her. Here ya go “Blue Jeans”

I’m also enjoying and dancing around to this groovy remix of “Blue Jeans”